


Rainy Nights Bring Brighter Days

by genderless_bean



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Fluff, Getting Back Together, He's Just Being Stupid, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Louis Tomlinson Loves Harry Styles, M/M, Post-Break Up, We Stan Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26262649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/genderless_bean/pseuds/genderless_bean
Summary: It definitely hadn’t gotten any easier. If anything it had gotten harder: trying to avoid thinking about it has caused it to be the only thing he thought about. He’s not just thinking about the day he ended it all; he’s thinking about the relationship as a whole. The good things, the bad things, the promises he broke.~Or Louis breaks up with Harry and he's fine totally with that.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 77





	Rainy Nights Bring Brighter Days

**Author's Note:**

> Second fic on here woo! I've been working on this one for MONTHS so I'm very happy to finally post it. Shout out to my lovely friend Axel (@axelevensen_ on twitter) for editing this for me and my gorgeous Seychelle (@happilyfalling on twitter) for also helping in the editing process!! Could not do these without you two I swear. xoxox

~

It had been about five months, and it hadn’t gotten any easier. Louis had hoped it would by now. However, he had learned to pretend it had... The other boys had stopped checking up on him as much, and being extra jolly with his sisters has caused them to stop calling him at odd hours of the night to make sure he’s home and in bed.

Harry, on the other hand, he was not sure about. For the first few months, he seemed unaffected. He’d laugh with the boys, have fun on stage, and go to parties. He appeared happy. Things were polite and never turned heated, but, of course, every time they talked Louis had the mild urge to run. It seemed the relationship had turned strictly business. They didn’t interact with each other unless it was about the band, and it was always kept brief. Although, Harry’s façade seemed to have started to crumble. He was laughing less, had been more reserved on stage, and stopped going to parties. He was spending a lot of his time alone which was concerning Louis. The other boys had seemed to notice this, too, as they had appeared to make a conscious effort to add him to conversations. Harry, being Harry, was always polite about it and humoured them for a few minutes, but eventually excused himself to sit in the corner once again.

The other boys definitely knew things were over, as Louis has spoken to both of them about it, and he’s sure Harry did the same. As a group, this major split hadn’t really affected the dynamic much. It did feel like the elephant in the room when Harry wouldn’t engage very much with Louis, and vice versa, but Liam and Niall were starting to learn how to avoid having the two talk. Liam had been Louis’s biggest support besides his sisters for the last five months. While Louis hadn’t spoken to Liam, or anyone, about the breakup in detail he was always there when Louis had his moments. They would go to a party together and get piss drunk or just sit in Louis’s apartment eating takeout, playing FIFA, or watching TV. In the beginning, Liam would ask Louis if he wanted to talk about it, but his response was always no. He had nothing left to talk about. He’d get over it.

Louis had been coping in different ways. From the get-go, he felt surprisingly calm, but as the days went on he started to think about it. It would keep him up at night going back and forth about what was said and how he did it. So, he would do anything to stop reliving it. At first, he’d have a few beers and smoke some weed at home, but that felt pathetic so he’d go to a party to drink and smoke with other people. Whenever he thought about it, he’d look for a party or club that could consume him; this started to become an every night thing. He’d go to a party, get shitfaced, and fake he was the happiest man alive. He eventually started to experiment with drugs. He would already be drunk so that blue pill given to him from some stranger seemed like a good idea. They helped keep him going. After a while, these parties started to consist of being blackout wasted on alcohol, whatever hard drug that was available, and an odd hook up with people he didn’t even know the name of. Louis honestly didn’t remember a lot of the last few months.

It definitely hadn’t gotten any easier. If anything it had gotten harder: trying to avoid thinking about it has caused it to be the only thing he thought about. He’s not just thinking about the day he ended it all; he’s thinking about the relationship as a whole. The good things, the bad things, the promises he broke.

2012

Louis’ lying in bed going through the channels on the TV in front of him when the bedroom door cracks open to Harry walking in, a mug of tea in each hand.

“Hey, darling, here’s your tea,” he says as he hands Louis his mug and climbs into bed with him.

“Thanks love,” Louis mumbles, words getting lost as he sips. 

Harry takes the remote from him and flips through the channels, finally landing on a FRIENDS rerun.

“So,” Harry starts, “ I just wanna warn you about something,” Harry says with a sigh as he puts his tea down and shifts a bit closer to Louis.

Hearing Harry’s worry, Louis also puts his mug aside and pulls the boy a bit closer, wrapping his arm around his shoulder. “Alright, let’s hear it,” he mutters, nuzzling into Harry’s curls.

Harry twists his fingers together, which Louis recognizes as an all-too-familiar anxious habit. “Management told me today in a meeting I’ll need to start dating someone for a bit.” Harry finishes with dread in his voice.

Louis tenses. “But… I started dating Eleanor so you wouldn’t have to date anyone, they told us only one of us needed a fake girlfriend,” he says, making an effort to keep his voice soft.

“Yeah, well, apparently they changed their minds. I won’t have one solid person; I’ll just be going from girl to girl, I think.” Harry furrows his brow at that remark.

Louis pauses to think for a minute, not quite sure what to say. It’s not like his Harry at all to move from person to person; he sees romantic relationships as something special, not things to just switch out every month or so.

“But, that’s not like you at all.” Louis voices his thoughts, concern seeping through his words. He moves his hands to rest on top of Harry’s to keep them from shifting.

“Yeah, but it’s not like you to date a girl and you’re doing that.” He replies with a giggle in his voice, obviously trying to make the atmosphere lighter.

Louis presses his smile into Harry’s shoulder. “You’ve got me there Hazza.” 

Harry repositions himself so that both arms are wrapped around Louis’ waist, his head tucked into Louis’ neck.“I don’t wanna pretend date all these girls. I wanna real date you.” Louis hears him whisper into his skin.

Louis lifts Harry’s chin up to where they are face to face. “I don’t want you to date anyone else but me and I don’t wanna date anyone else but you; you have to remember that you are only with me and I am only with you. It doesn’t look like that to most of the general public but fuck them. The people who matter to us know we’re together and that’s what's important.” He whispers as a softness falls over his face while he soothingly moves his thumb over Harry’s cheekbone. 

The look in Harry’s face takes Louis back a little. His cheeks across his nose are pink, his eyes are that beautiful mossy green, turning glassy, and his lips are a smiling blush. Harry lifts his hands from Louis free one and wraps them around his neck. “I love you,” he breathes out before placing a small kiss at the corner of Louis' mouth.

“I love you, too,” Louis responds as he brings Harry back to his lips. He tries not to think about how this will change things. He knows it will.

It’s just a few closed mouth kisses shared between the two before Harry pulls away slightly. “This can’t break us. You promise this won’t take you away from me?”

“Nothing could ever make me let you go, you’re my soulmate. The love of my life. I couldn’t stand losing you,” Louis affirms with the confidence only a man in love could have.

“Promise?” Harry says as he runs his hands up Louis’ neck and into his hair.

“Promise,” Louis whispers as he pulls Harry in for the deepest kiss of the evening.

***

Louis suddenly gets up off his sofa to go to his kitchen — and trips over quite a few boxes on the way there. He’s been in this new apartment for five months now and he’s only unpacked about 40% of his stuff. Liam has asked him a few times why he hasn’t just gotten it over with, but Louis always changes the subject. He gets to his kitchen and takes the day-old takeaway from the fridge and hops up to sit on his kitchen island with it. He should be cooking for himself at this point, but he can’t cook for shit and doesn’t have anyone he can cut vegetables for anymore, leaving him with cold noodles.

As his mind begins to drift again his phone starts to ring. He doesn’t bother looking at who it is — it's one in the morning and he knows it’s either Niall drunk-calling him about something stupid that he must-tell-Louis-about-immediately or one of his sisters checking on him. Either way, he answers.

“Hey, Louis. It's Zayn.” Louis freezes. He hasn’t heard from Zayn since they had their massive fall out, and frankly he’s shocked that Louis doesn’t have him blocked.

“Um, hey, you alright?” Louis questions all the while panicking internally.

“I feel like I should be asking you that,” Zayn answers, as if they spoke yesterday. 

“What makes you think I’m not alright?” Louis fires back defensively. 

“Liam and I have been chatting and he offhandedly mentioned he was worried about you. He didn’t tell me what it was so I’m calling you,” Zayn calmly answers. Louis is 90% sure he’s high.

Louis puts his sad noodles down to get off the island and starts to pace. “Liam’s always worried about me. And why do you even care if I’m alright or not?” Louis retorts. He knows he's getting a bit snappy, but the thought of Liam revealing anything about his life to Zayn strikes a nerve.

He can practically hear Zayn roll his eyes. “For the past five months, Liam will always say something along the lines of ‘hold on let me check on Lou’ or ‘Louis texting me — I might have to go pick him up,’ and that’s not just Liam being worried about you.” 

Louis bites his lip. “Why do you care what’s going on with me?” 

“Because, believe it or not, I don’t wanna hear you’ve thrown yourself off a bridge, so do you want to talk about it or not?” 

Louis stills. This is the first time in days he’s been sober and it’s probably getting to his head because he just blurts it out. “Harry and I broke up.” At that Zayn goes speechless — Louis even checks to see if he hung up. 

“You and Harry… broke up?” Zayn repeats, sounding genuinely shocked. “Yes, Z, do I have to spell it out for you?” Louis dryly replies. Zayn takes a few more seconds to respond. 

“What the fuck? Why?” Zayn sounds almost angry. 

Louis squeezes his eyes shut. “It was for the best,” he whispers so quietly that he’s shocked Zayn hears him. 

“I can’t think of one good reason for you two to break up.”

“Then you’re not thinking hard enough mate,” Louis tries to joke, but it doesn’t stop his eyes from tearing up.

Zayn lets out a sigh. “Louis, what happened?” The question breaks the dam that had been building up inside Louis, sending him into a wave of tears. He looks up at the ceiling in an effort to keep them from falling. He won’t cry about this; he’s pretty sure he hasn’t for weeks, and he can’t break that streak now. “Because it’s better for him, Z. It's better for both of us. I’m protecting him. He’s been through so much,” he blurts out his inner monologue, hoping that if he said it out loud enough that maybe it would feel true. 

“So you broke up with him, then?” Zayn questions in a surprisingly monotone voice. 

“Yeah.” Louis winces as he says it. 

“I still don’t know why you ended it.” 

Louis hears Zayn shift slightly and a lighter flick. He blindly walks out to his balcony and leans on the rails as he lights one up as well.

“I’m just trying to protect him.” Louis pulls the cigarette away from his mouth and notices his hands are shaking. 

“From what?” Zayn sounds confused — frustrated, almost.

“From me, obviously.” Louis stares at the moon and tries not to break.

“Louis, if you wanna get your boy back, I’m gonna need you to get honest with me — all that mushy shit,” Zayn says around his cigarette. 

Louis chokes. “Zayn I don't-” 

“Louis, cut the bullshit and tell me about how you convinced yourself to break up with the love of your life.” 

Louis pauses at this. He looks out off his balcony at the city of London; he stares at the lights and tries to detach himself.

“I couldn’t do it to him anymore, Z. All the running around hiding, the lies, the fake shit. It was hurting him so badly, and I couldn’t bear to see him suffer just because I was being selfish,” Louis whispers with a tremble in his voice. 

“How were you being selfish?” Zayn prompts. 

“I was staying with him knowing he wasn’t happy and it would be better for him if I ended it.” Louis takes a deep drag from his cigarette.

“Did he tell you that?” Zayn’s voice softens slightly. 

“Well, we were having some pretty loud fights for a while. We both said some shitty stuff, but he didn’t say anything.” Louis feels his eyes well up again. “He didn’t have to, I could tell.”

“What were you fighting about?”

Louis has to think about that one. “Well you know us we always had a bit of a row, but they started to get more vicious. I honestly can’t remember what any of them were about.” 

Zayn breathes for a minute. “Louis, I still don’t see your point in ending it. Yeah, you guys have some problems, but all couples do. You guys had some... unique obstacles, but that doesn’t mean you had to cut the whole thing off.”

Louis clenches his fist around the railing, cigarette forgotten for a moment. 

“Some problems are just too straining on the relationship. Some problems take up so much of your time and worry you don’t have the energy to work on the actual relationship itself.” 

Louis feels a few tears fall. 

“Louis, has all that stuff stopped since you guys broke up? Has the contract with Eleanor ended? Has Harry been able to stop going around with random women? Have you two been able to express yourselves freely?” Zayn rattles off all these questions, making Louis’ head spin. 

“I still do pap walks with El, he stills gets ice cream with the most current girl in the media, I still get told to watch how I’m fucking sitting, I still hear him being asked if he wants to chop his hair off. None of that’s really changed.” Louis hadn’t noticed this until now. 

“You’re still being asked to stay away from each other, aren’t you?” Zayn whispers the question like it’ll break Louis. 

In a way, it does. “Yeah, it’s easier now, though, since he hates me.” Louis sniffs slightly. 

“He couldn’t hate you even if he tried, and I’m sure he’s really trying. I mean I hate you a bit right now.” Zayn laughs, breaking the tension. Louis giggles with him.

“Yeah, I think everyone hates me a bit at the moment.” The smile falls from Louis’ face. 

“Lou, I get where you were coming from but you could not have fucked this up more.” Zayn sighs. 

“He’ll be happy I did it one day.” Louis defends quietly. 

“Breaking up with him has changed nothing in his life except taking his soulmate away from him,” Zayn says with no doubt in his voice. Louis doesn’t really know what to say to that. He continues after Louis is silent for too long, “So I'll ask again: Are you alright?” 

“No,” Louis whispers, “no, I'm not alright. I barely sleep more than two hours a night because I miss him so much and can’t sleep without him, I eat like shit because I can’t cook and even if I could I don’t have the motivation to do it. I get piss drunk almost every day because it's better than thinking about him, I’ve almost got addicted to drugs because I need relief somewhere, I’ve hooked up with I don’t know how many people. I can barely look at him without wanting to drop to my knees and beg him to forgive me even though I don’t deserve that in the slightest because I know I broke him and that thought kills me.” Louis sucks in a sob. He slaps his free hand around his mouth and wills himself not to scream. He feels so embarrassed to let all his jumbled thoughts and damaging habits come to light; he hates feeling weak and useless, but he knows that’s all he’s been doing in the past few months. 

“You can fix this, mate. Talk to him and tell him what you told me. You guys at least need to have a chat, I’m sure this will all work out in the end but you’re gonna have to fight for him, Lou. You love each other too much to let this ruin it,” Zayn whispers in a soothing tone. Louis takes a few moments to catch his breath. 

“I love you, Z. You’ve always been good at calling me out on my bullshit,” Louis says with a small laugh. 

“That’s why I called you, knew you needed a bit of my wisdom.” 

Louis can practically see him smirking. 

“Would it be too much to go over to him now?” Louis asks, partly joking. 

“With you two, I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Zayn says with a giggle. 

“Well, if this goes tits up, I’m blaming you,” Louis says, leaving the balcony to look for some shoes and his keys. 

“It won’t. Love you, call me whenever.” Zayn hangs up, leaving Louis no room to say anything back. 

“Well, now all I have to do is drive to Harry’s house at three in the morning and beg him to take me back. Easy enough.” Louis says to himself as he walks to his lift with butterflies in his stomach.

~

Of course, the second Louis leaves his garage, it starts to rain. And it’s not just a light drizzle either, but the biggest downpour he’s seen in a while. He can hear the rain violently hitting the windows and roof of his car while the street has a river rushing down either side of it. The house is about a thirty-minute drive normally, but with all this rain Louis is sure it’s gonna take longer. Unfortunately, he’s got plenty of time with his thoughts. He considers just forgetting it. Waiting a day or two and holding off until the right time. This is all very spontaneous — more an act of emotion than logic. He doesn’t really have a goal other than getting Harry back, so he hasn’t thought much further than that. The fear of how badly this could go suddenly hits him. Louis hadn’t even considered the dreadful possibility that Harry doesn’t want him anymore — why would he? He ended it in the most sudden and cold way possible without much explanation. Yes, Harry seems sad now, but he wasn’t in the beginning. He could be sad about something entirely different. Louis has no idea what's going on in his personal life anymore. 

If he waits he’ll never do it, he’s already here going for it. Might as well try. Louis decides it’s dangerous to let his mind wander, so he turns on the radio to keep himself grounded. It’s playing an old rock song that he doesn’t recognize. For the next fifteen minutes, he’s fine; the music is playing and his mind is relatively quiet.

It’s when Louis turns into the street that it hits him. He bought this house with Harry. They drove up this exact street two years ago so excited to look at this house. Harry loved how big and open the kitchen was. Louis loved the big, private backyard. They talked about how perfect it was for kids. It blows Louis’ mind that they were talking about kids at such a young age, that they had so many things planned out in this house, on this street. When Louis pulls up to the gate he can see a small light on in what was a guest room which Louis finds odd, but doesn’t dwell on. Outside Louis’ window is the keypad. Right. He forgot he couldn’t just walk up to the door. Without thinking he tries the code he knows. The gates slowly start to open. He can see the house in full view now, and it looks exactly the same as he left it — not that he thinks Harry would redesign the whole thing in five months, he’s just shocked by how untouched it looks. The driveway is empty, so he parks his car and sits there for a minute. He feels a bit creepy sitting here when he’s sure Harry knows someone has just opened his gate without buzzing in and is now parked in his driveway, unmoving. He knows his nerves are getting the best of him. The rain is still pouring down on Louis’ car and, at this point, if he takes one step out of his car he’ll be drenched; he sprints out of his car to the front door. There is an overhang protecting him, but that five-second run has left him pretty damp anyway. Louis looks through the window into the living room and can’t see much; the only light that appears to be on is the one in the guestroom. 

“It’s alright, you got this,” Louis says between deep breaths, trying to psych himself up. He rings the doorbell. It only takes a few minutes for the door to open, and Louis feels like he’s gonna throw up. When the door does open it only opens a crack.

“Hi,” Louis whispers, he’s not even sure if it's Harry he’s greeting. The door opens wider and his head appears. Harry’s hair is up in what Louis wouldn’t necessarily call a bun as it looks like it’s about to fall out. His face is rather pale, lips less red, more of a peach colour. Louis has to hold his breath because he hasn’t had a good look at Harry’s face in five months and, frankly, this is the most alive he’s felt in a while.

“You alright?” Harry asks in the softest voice Louis ever heard. 

Louis brushes his wet fringe out of his eyes. “That’s a good question,” he says with a small laugh.

Harry opens the door a bit more but still has half of his body covered by it. “Why are you here?” Harry questions with a slight tilt of his head.

“Hope I didn’t wake you up, I know it’s really late. This was kind of last-minute,” Louis suddenly rushes out with a shiver in his voice. The rainwater covering him makes him feel heavy.

Harry gives him a confused look before it turns neutral. “Why are you here?” he repeats.

Louis tries to keep eye contact “I’m here to have a chat with you.”

Harry curls in on himself slightly. “About what?” his voice comes out a bit cold.

Louis stuffs his hands in the pocket of his hoodie to squeeze them together. “Mostly about me, a little bit about you.” He breathes out.

Harry does nothing but stare at him.

Louis takes a deep breath. “I had a chat with Zayn and realized I fucked up so bad, probably the stupidest thing I'll ever do.” Harry’s expression twitches slightly but says nothing.

Louis shifts forward slightly and brings his hands out of his pocket. “I never should have broken up with you. I was thinking about things that hadn’t even happened yet and I was assuming how you felt. I was so scared of losing you or hurting you I thought it was the best thing to do.” Louis stops to stare up at the covering above him. He hears Harry take a few deep breaths. 

“I should have talked to you about where my head was at but I was so scared to seem weak to you because I always wanted to protect you and don’t want you to feel like I'm dumping all my problems on you.” Louis looks back at Harry to see his hand tightly wrapped around the side of the door. He looks near tears. 

Louis laughs a little. “God, you should have seen me for the last five months. I’ve been a fucking mess.” Louis feels a tear roll down his cheek, which he quickly wipes away. 

A deafening silence amidst the pouring rain falls between them. Harry shifts uneasily. Louis tries not to fidget as he feels something building and the water seeps into his clothes. 

“I’ll ask again. Why are you here?” Harry spits out as his eyes turn to slits.

Louis is rendered speechless.

“I- I miss you,” Is the only thing he can really say.

“And how do you want to deal with that, Louis?” Harry questions with a huff.

“I know what I want to do, I don’t know if it’s something you want to do” Louis breathes out, beginning to lose his confidence, dancing around the question he so desperately wants to ask.

This seems to make Harry more agitated than he already was. “Look, if you want to run around the topic could you do that wherever you’re living because I can’t do this.” 

Louis wants to cry. He can tell Harry’s mad at him, of course he is. A small part of him thought Harry would just fall into his arms and they would kiss and makeup. But it was clear that was definitely not going to happen.

“How have you been doing?” Louis asks suddenly.

Harry cocks his head. “What?”

Louis moves closer. “How have you been doing since the last time we spoke?” He questions softly. 

Harry goes bug-eyed for a moment but then his face morphs into something painfully unreadable. “I don't know. I think I’m losing myself a bit. I thought this would be a good time to “find myself” but I'm really just confused. People get on my nerves so I’d rather be by myself but that just causes everyone to worry about me and it’s frustrating because I’m pretty sure I’m fine. I can get through this. Loads of people experience this and get over it.”

Harry stops his rambling for a moment. He has moved more behind the door, using it as a shield. The rain seems to have gotten harder and is moving under the covering, getting Louis even more drenched. Neither of them say anything, both slightly shocked by Harry’s words.

“Harry. I’m so sorry, I’m pretty sure I said that earlier but I’ll probably apologize about this for a long time. I never wanted to hurt you, I just wanted to give you a chance to-” Louis cuts himself off.

“A chance to what Louis?” Harrys asks softly.

Louis takes a deep breath. “I just wanted to give you a chance to love someone the way everyone else can.” 

Harry’s face collapses in a way Louis has only seen a handful of times.

“I don’t want to love someone the way everyone else does. I want my own unique love, a love no one else has. Do you really believe I want simple love? I don’t want the textbook version of love. A want the love we-” Harry’s breath jumps as tears roll down his face.

“The love we what?” Louis says with a bit of a chatter in his teeth. At this point, the rain has soaked through his clothes. 

“The love we had- have. The love we have.” 

Louis starts openly sobbing. Tears stream down his face to mix with the rainwater at the collar of his hoodie and his breath starts coming out shallow with occasional wails. Harry moves away from the door to wrap a hand around Louis' wrist. They make eye contact for a beat before Harry pulls Louis into the house with him. 

“I couldn’t stand watching you get soaked any longer,” Harry whispers in the dark hallway as he pulls a towel out of the coat closet. He hesitates before loosely wrapping it around Louis' shoulders. He steps back. 

Louis sobs have reduced to quiet hiccups as he pulls at the towel and stares at the water dripping on the floor.

A quiet sets in, the rain no longer a filler. Louis slowly toes his water-filled shoes off and wiggles his feet on the doormat under him. Harry stays where he is as he looks at the floor.

Louis takes a moment to collect his thoughts. It’s now or never.

“I’m in love with you. You’re my soulmate. I fucked this up so bad but I think I needed these last five months. I needed to feel this unbearable pain of being without you. I needed to see what it was like losing you so I can do everything I can do to get you back and never lose you again. The situation we’re in is so shitty and unfair but it’s not forever and as difficult as it is, we can get through it. We have gotten through it. I got angry and let it out on you instead of talking to you about it. I want you back in my life, I need you back in my life — but I don’t mean that I’m codependent or anything because I think we’re very sold as our own people- I’m just better with you. I'm happier with you.” Louis lets a smile form on his lips as he catches a breath, his first genuine smile in months.

Harry starts to smile with him, they catch each other’s eyes.

“We’re in love. We’re soulmates. That's all I really need.” Harry says before he throws his arms around Louis' neck.

Louis wraps his arms securely around Harry’s waist as he feels one of Harry’s hands’ cradle his head. They fit together tightly before Harry moves his face in front of Louis. 

“Kiss me.” He whispers as he touches his nose to Louis.

Louis moves forward and connects their lips slowly. He pulls them closer and starts to re-familiarize himself with Harry’s mouth.

Harry pulls back to breath but keeps his lips on Louis’. “Do you want to shower?”

Lous laughs suddenly. “Bit offended Hazza. Do I smell or something?” 

Harry rolls his eyes and kisses Louis' cheek. “Just thought since you’re soaking wet and shivering in my arms you’d like to take a hot shower while I get you dry clothes and tea.” 

“Yeah that would be nice, thanks.” Louis lets out a soft giggle as they disconnect.

“Come on then,” Harry beckons softly, taking Louis by the hand and leading them up the stairs.

Things look almost exactly the same as the day Louis left this house. Besides the small things he took with him and a few things Harry’s left around, nothing major seems to have been touched. That’s when Harry pulls Louis into the master bedroom, their room. This room looks oddly still. The bed is unmade, but also looks like no one has touched it for a while. The drawers to what was Louis' side of the dresser are all open haphazardly, just as Louis left them. The whole room feels rather musty and unlived in. He turns to Harry to see him looking a bit hurt.

Without missing a beat Harry speaks up. “I haven't come in here since the day I came home and found you and all your stuff gone.” 

“I’m so sorry Haz,” Louis whispers, unable to take his eyes off the room.

Harry suddenly grabs Louis' hand again to lead him to the bathroom. “I’ll put clothes on the bed and you can come down to the kitchen when you’re ready.” Harry shuts the door behind him after pressing a gentle kiss to Louis' forehead.

The bathroom is in a similar state as the bedroom, untouched. Louis turns on the shower and then pulls his phone out of his pocket to check the time, 4:38. They’ve been up all night.

Louis removes the rest of his soaked clothes and leaves them on the tile before stepping under the warm water. He uses the shampoo and soap Harry left in here five months ago and steps out warmer and cleaner. He wraps a towel around his waist before moving out of the bathroom to find the bed stripped with clothes laying on the bare mattress. As Louis looks around more the room seems to have been cleaned a bit. The drawers have been closed, the curtains have been opened to reveal the rain softly tapping the windows, and the fan that they normally have in what was Harry’s office is now in front of the open door finally moving fresh air into the room.

Louis smiles as he puts on the clothes left out for him. They smell like Harry.

Louis finds Harry sitting at the island in the kitchen with two cups of tea and a plate of peanut butter toast in front of him. His hair is up in a real bun now, and his face has a light pink blush over it. The only light in the room coming from the lamp sitting by the fridge, giving the room a soft white glow.

“What’s this?” Louis asks, taking a seat on the stool next to Harry’s. 

“I’m rather hungry, so I thought I’d make us a snack,” Harry says with a small smile on his face as he moves the plate in between them. 

“Thanks H,” Louis says softly as he takes a sip of his tea.

They eat in silence for a while, their ankles intertwined, sending small smiles to each other every now and then. 

After a while, Harry speaks up. “I’m a bit afraid to ask this, but, what now?”

Louis puts his tea down and turns to him. “What do you want to happen now?”

“Well, I feel it’s safe to assume we’re together again in some way-” Harry pauses, looking to Louis for approval. He nods in agreement. “I’d like us to get back to a good place. It might take some time, we’ve been separated for a while and… what you did really hurt me.” Louis grabs Harry’s hand and squeezes. “I’ve missed you loads and I know we can do this, we just need to work on a few things,” Harry finishes lightly. 

Louis kisses him on the head. “I’m on the same page. We go at our own pace, get to a good place, and we’ll make it for sure.” Louis smiles brightly.

“You’re gonna be my boyfriend until you become my husband,” Harry says with a giggle.

Louis giggles with him. “I’ll hold you to that, babe.”

After they finish their tea and toast Harry picks up his phone. “Wow, it’s 5:15. Can’t believe we’ve been up all night.” 

Louis looks out the window. “Well, it’s not raining anymore, so if we get a move on we could see the sunrise?” Louis turns back to Harry to see him smiling at him. 

“If you grab blankets I’ll meet you on the balcony on the couch?” Harry asks as he gets up to clear their dishes.

“I’ll see you in a moment then,” Louis laughs, getting up and walking to the living room. Just as he remembers, there are quite a few blankets thrown over the couch. He grabs a few and heads up the stairs to the balcony.

The rain had narrowly missed the outdoor couch, thank god. Harry sits in the middle, arms wrapped around his knees. Louis sits next to him and makes sure to cover them both in the blankets. As Louis looks out into the sky he sees they made it just in time as a deep orange is just starting to paint the skyline.

Harry rests his head on Louis' shoulder. “Cuddle me.” He whispers.

“Wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Louis replies as he pulls Harry’s legs over his lap and wraps his arms around his neck.

“God I missed this.” Harry sighs as he nuzzles his nose into Louis' neck. 

“I don't think us watching the sunrise is something we did often,” Louis says with a confused giggle.

“No, I mean just us, doing silly things together. What we should really be doing right now is sleeping in a guest room, but here we are, watching the sunrise after being up all night.” Harry smiles as the sun’s yellow light creeps over the horizon.

“I think most people who watch the sunrise are people who’ve stayed up all night,” Louis says with a grin.

Harry laughs. “That’s really all you got out of that?”

“I get what you mean. You and I have done some fun stuff together, huh?” Louis rests his head on top of Harry’s.

“Anything with you is fun,” Harry says, pressing a kiss to Louis’ neck.

He pulls Harry closer as the whole sky starts to shift between orange and yellow, the stars fading into the early morning light.

“I’ll love you for the rest of my life and the life after this,” Harry whispers unprompted into Louis' neck.

Louis moves Harry’s face to his. “Pretty words from a pretty boy,” he whispers, pressing a soft kiss to Harry’s lips. 

“I write songs for a living, you’d expect me to be good with words,” he mumbles into Louis' kiss.

The world is filled with a golden light, and Louis pulls Harry in to kiss him harder. 

~

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and feel free to let me know what your thoughts are I always love to hear feedback!! You can follow me if you wish @genderless_bean on twitter. xoxox


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